Serenade
by Meanderings
Summary: Mari believes in fairytales, but one by one, things begin to fall apart and Mari will be left with nothing to believe. [slight HaoxMari][Maricentric]


**Title: **Serenade  
**Notes:** Italics are Mari's dream/imagination. The italics are written in past tense. Everything else is written in present-tense. I wanted to try something new so I wrote this in present-tense. I haven't seen Shaman King in forever so my memory of the end if really fuzzy. This might not make sense, urgh.  
**Summary:** Mari believes in fairytales, lives in her own made-up one, but one by one, things begin to fall apart and Mari's left with nothing to believe.

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**Serenade

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**

The last traces of sunlight are quickly receding as the sky darkens, forging a canvas of stars on indigo blue. Fall's chilly wind sweeps through the city, carrying off papers and hats to the stars. Blonde pigtails flutter in that breeze, the tears running down her face threatening to freeze. Mari cries, clutching a doll close to her tiny body. The thin, black dress does barely anything to shield her from the cold.

When the street lights flicker on one by one, Mari shies from the other people and scampers off to one of the alleyways. She trembles, pressing against the brick wall, trying to shrink away from the world. The hands around Chuck's neck are nearly squeezing him to death, but he doesn't complain; Mari has enough to worry about. She sinks slowly to the dirty, cement ground, her bony knees pulled tightly to her body. As the wind grows harsher, her eyes become foggy and they eventually slide shut.

Her hands loosen slightly and Chuck knows Mari is finally content for the moment.

_Mari had never been to a meadow before, but she knew she was standing in one from all the descriptions she had read. Pale, frosty-green grass brushed her ankles and dandelion seeds gently danced in the air like music notes. Mari stood in the middle of it all, staring in wonder, Chuck dangling from one hand._

_Over one of the slopes came three little children, all about Mari's age, seven or eight. Two were girls with bouncing, blonde locks and the other one was a little boy, all dressed in white. They came skipping to Mari, high-pitched giggles filling up the silence. Their blue eyes seemed to hold secrets and mischievousness as the children pranced around._

_"Who are you?" Mari was quiet and cautious in asking her question. She didn't know them, didn't know where she was._

_The first blonde girl laughed and took a leap back, rising in the air so gracefully it seemed like she was floating. "I'm Anabella." Her voice sounded like ringing bells._

_The boy took Mari's hands into his own, pulling her forward and Mari instantly felt her step become light. "Come on, follow us. I'm Matthew."_

_A pair of thin arms wrapped themselves around Mari's neck and she turned to see the second little girl. When she said, "And I'm Lacey,' Mari could smell the sweet cotton-candy of her breath._

_"Come, we'll take you away," Anabella said, jumping higher into the air._

_"Where?"_

_"We'll take you to wherever you want. This is your fairytale."_

_Mari soon forgot all her worries and problems as she spun around in circles with the other children, their rhymes and songs clouding her mind completely._

Mari is so tired that she could have slept in mud when she meets Hao. The look he first gives her was one of contempt, but then it turns into sympathy. Hao has never seen someone look so pitiful, well, he has, but no one that wasn't standing up against him. She looks dead. Dark rings occupy the area under her dull eyes, her lips are bruised, bleeding, and cracked, and her pale skin is covered in dirt and splotches of blue and black. The black dress is ripped and filthy.

She tries to get her mouth work, but her dry throat constricts, choking any sound. She needs water, something, and her dreams can feed her only so much. "Please. . ."

Hao raises an eyebrow and drops down to her. "Please what?"

"Just help. . ." Mari coughs. Hao mulls over his options and answer. As he does so, Mari feels the last of her strength give away and she collapses to the ground, groaning. Needles are in her stomach, a heavy weight on her chest, her mind is swiveling. Who is going to save her?

Hao sees that she is a shaman, as if Chuck wasn't enough proof, sees that she really does need help, sees that she has potential, and so he lifts her carefully onto the Spirit of Fire. Before Mari passes out, she smiles faintly and whispers, "My prince charming. . ."

Yes, that's who he is. Mari doesn't doubt her thoughts.

She grows to admire the Japanese boy and soon that adoration tumbles into a crush, young love. Mari blushes whenever Hao addresses her solely, her heart giving a tiny jump whenever he brushes her hair. Her eyes finally begin to sparkle like the refreshing shine of Spring and clean water.

But she knows Hao doesn't feel the same way.

Mari's happy, but Hao's new recruits don't seem to think that Mari deserves to be happy.

Mari's Italian. Macchi's British. Kanna's German. Hao's Japanese.

Hao's the only one that understands them, both language and emotions. They're supposed to be a team, but Kanna's too rebellious to cooperate, Macchi's to childish to sit down, and Mari's too shy to look up, but they need to work together. So Hao decides to start with learning the same language.

Hao's ability in foreign language isn't too good, so he decides to teach them all Japanese. Kanna's smart, she gets it. But Mari can't get the hang of it, it's like she has a speech impediment.

Macchi laughs whenever Mari says something wrong.

They start with the basics and it's learning how to say, "I," and, "Me," and, "You."

"Watashi."

Macchi says it and her accent can pass for an authentic Japanese one. Mari tries it, but it doesn't come out right.

"W-w-tas-ri."

Hao raises a thin eyebrow. Kanna snorts on her cigarette and Macchi holds her stomach, laughing. Mari's cheeks burn from humiliation. Oh great, now Hao will never like her.

"Try again. Say 'Watashi wa Mari.' "

Mari says it, but she can't get it. She begs in Italian, "Stop! Mari doesn't get it! Stop!"

But Hao frowns and insists that she has to learn it. It takes a while, but Hao finally realizes her problem. There's no explanation, just observation.

"Mari."

"Yes, Hao-sama?"

"Say 'Mari no anata no pocky.' "

Mari glares at her feet, but she's not defiant enough to glare at Hao, and she mumbles the phrase.

"Louder."

"Mari no anata no pocky."

Hao grins and pats Mari gently on the head. "See? You get it."

Mari gasps; oh my, she really does get it! Macchi's surprised, too, because it's the first Japanese thing Mari's said correctly.

"I'll just teach you Japanese without 'I'," Hao says and Mari smiles back.

"_You're pretty, you're sweet!' Anabella exclaimed, lacing Mari's blonde strands with jasmine and daises._

_"I know! Why wouldn't he like you?"_

_Mari sighed, "Mari doesn't know. Chuck doesn't know either."_

_She hugged Chuck closer and stared off into the distance._

_"Do you want us to help?" Matthew inquired._

_"Mari doesn't know."_

_"That's a yes! That's a yes!"_

_The three disappeared and Mari was left alone, though Chuck was still with her, in a busy street. It was fall again and people in all the colors of the rainbow bustled past her. The sun was out and the stores occupying the street were a burst of colors. Mari looked around and spotted the only familiar person._

_Her heart jumped._

_The person turned and a large smile appeared on his face. In the next instance, he stood in front of Mari. No words or motions were exchanged. Then the boy shoved something into Mari's face. She accepted it into her hands. It was a small box wrapped in a simple light green wrapping paper. There was a frilly, red bow attached on the top._

_"It's too early for Christmas," she said after a while._

_"I don't need an occasion," he replied cheerfully._

_So Mari opened the box without another complaint. She gasped, she clapped, and almost squealed. Inside were two strips of white, laced ribbons. Mari didn't know what to say so she just smiled. He laughed._

_"Do you like them?"_

_"Mari loves them!"_

_"They're for your hair." He reached up and deftly tied Mari's hair into two pigtails._

_"They're very cute. Now you can do your hair whenever you want."_

_"Oh good. Mari won't be bored."_

Mari tells Kanna and Macchi of her dreams. They don't make fun of her, but they just smile as if they're proud of her. Over the past weeks, Macchi's become close to Mari. She hugs Mari, beaming.

Macchi thinks Mari still likes to play pretend. Macchi doesn't mind though. She likes playing pretend, too.

Kanna would say, "Sometimes I wish I was still as young as you," and take a drag.

Macchi would shriek happily and ask eagerly, "Oooh, can I be the Wicked Shaman of the West? Please? Please?"

Their friendship doesn't last long though; Mari never saw it coming.

She thought they were going to win, that Hao would achieve his dream, but she's wrong when she sees the scene unfurling in front of her eyes. Hao's gone crazy, she thinks. It's not cold, but she's shaking. Macchi's whimpering next to her and Kanna actually seems scared for once.

It's like Hao doesn't recognize them anymore. Opacho only has half a heart to stay around. Mari can't believe her eyes. Is that really Hao? Is that how he really is? Is this what the other shamans saw in him? If it's true, then Mari understands why the others hate him so much. But Mari could never hate Hao. He gave her life. Could she really have fallen in love with him?

Mari feels her chest twinge when Hao looks her way. She's running out of breath, but it's not from happiness, it's from an icy fear. What's Hao going to do next? Mari suddenly forgets what everything had been before this point. She wants to run, but she can't. She can feel Chuck being ripped away from her and Macchi is screaming her lungs out. She can't believe that Hao really did what he did. Next thing she knows, she's feeling the hard impact of the ground on her body and her eyes no longer see the blue sky.

Hao's become a monster.

_Mari ran into the field, feeling sad on the inside, but there was a smile on her face since she knew she'd cheer up afterwards. She sat down on the large rock in the middle of the flowers and grass and waited patiently. Anabella immediately came dashing through the grass to grasp Mari's hands into hers excitedly._

_"Oh, you're back!" she squealed._

_"Mari knows. Where are the others?"_

_Anabella shook her head, laughing and moving to sit next to Mari. "They're coming. They were just sleeping."_

_"Oh." Mari paused, and then she gasped, "Oh! Here they come."_

_Lacey and Matthew came bounding over the hills and before Mari could call out their names, she found herself lying on the ground with the two on top of her._

_"Hey!" she giggled, squirming. The two children get off her and dusted their hands off before helping Mari up._

_They struck up a conversation, something about carnival rides, and eventually Mari started to yawn._

_"Are you tired?" Lacey asked, concerned that Mari had came down with something._

_"Mari's had a busy day. Mari should sleep."_

_"Yep, you should sleep. We'll stay here with you. Okay?"_

_"Okay."_

_Mari lied down carefully on the soft ground and after a couple of lullabies, she drifted off. Anabella sat next to her, running her hands through Mari's soft hair._

_"I hate to see her when she wakes up," she said softly, hoping that Mari wasn't faking sleep._

_Matthew shrugged. "She won't see us immediately. Besides, you know, it's about time."_

_"Are you sure?"_

_"Why not?" Lacey cut in. "She needs to grow up sometime. This time is about as good as it gets."_

_"Aw, it's going to break her though," the other girl pouted._

_"We're only here to help. Someone has to tell Mari that fairytales aren't real."_

It's like there's a switch somewhere inside her. There are thousands of switches inside her, controlling her motions and emotions. For the time being, they were all shut down, but suddenly they all flicker on and Mari pulls herself to her feet. Everything is eerily calm. All Mari remembers is noise. No, she remembers more.

She can remember the feeling of being split in every direction. Right before the moment she fell, Mari could feel her heart pounding, threatening to burst out. She's almost afraid to recall what Hao did. Her eyes roam around and they finally see what they were meant to see.

Hao's dead.

At this point Mari's ready to break down, scream, die, be ripped apart, but all she can feel is herself almost suffocating. Kanna and Macchi don't pay her any attention; they're too shocked to do anything. Mari's too heartbroken to do anything.

Then she looks at Chuck, who she thought she dropped a few moments ago. That's when she falls to her knees, hands shaking. It finally hits her.

Hao's gone.

He's dead.

He's never going to come back.

No one is going to save her now.

Mari looks at Chuck again and her chest heaves as she struggles to breathe. Macchi just then notices Mari and rushed over to help her, but Mari's beyond helping. Her mind is running faster she can process her thoughts and the only thing that comes to her mind is: What happened? Where's my fairytale?

Macchi's crying, trying to get Mari to respond to her. Kanna's sucking on a cigarette as if it's the oxygen she needs. Mari just wants to get away from here, and that's what she does. She gets to her feet, picks up Chuck, and sprints as fast as her stick legs can carry her. It takes a second, but Macchi starts running after her with Kanna following her closely.

There's nothing left for them, but Mari refuses to believe that.

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**End.**


End file.
